India will take on Putin as it balances relations with Russia and the US Politics News

New Delhi and Moscow have signed a number of defense and trade agreements as India moves closer to the US, as opposed to Russia.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss defense and trade relations, while India is trying to balance its relations with the United States.

Monday’s annual summit agenda included political and defense issues, according to the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The meeting between Modi and Putin in New Delhi was held within hours of a strategic dialogue between the two countries’ defense and foreign ministers to strengthen ties between India and Russia.

The two countries also signed a number of bilateral defense agreements, including India’s acquisition of more than 600,000 assault rifles from Russia.

The Indian Defense Ministry called the deal a “milestone” that would replace a local rifle with a modern weapon, ending a “long search” for the needs of its army.

Indian Foreign Minister Harsh Vardhan Shringla said India and Russia had signed 28 investment treaties on Monday, including agreements on steel, shipbuilding, coal and energy.

India starts picking up the S-400

India has also begun receiving S-400 missiles from Russia this month, Shringla said, adding that supplies will continue.

Speaking at the meeting, Modik said the agreements reached “would be beneficial in a number of sectors”.

“As part of the ‘Make in India’ program, our co-development and co-production projects are strengthening our advocacy. Our partnership is also moving forward in the space and civilian nuclear sectors, ”Modik said.

The two countries also signed an agreement to expand their military technology cooperation for the next decade.

Putin spoke in the capital with Putin: “Our colleagues, the Foreign and Defense Ministers, are here; this is the first meeting of this format. This means that we continue to develop our relations in the international arena and in the military.

“We perceive India as a great power, a national friend and a time-tested friend,” Putin said.

India and Russia have a long history of close relations and have already set a $ 30 billion target for bilateral trade by the end of 2025.

Complex regional dynamics

But recently, India has moved closer to the United States, which it considers essential to China.

Putin has to deal with the complex dynamics of the region, the tensions between New Delhi and Beijing, traditionally allied with Moscow, after a month-long military halt along the conflicting eastern border of Ladakh. At least 20 Indian soldiers were killed in clashes with China last year. China said it had lost four soldiers.

Nandan Unnikrishnan of the New Delhi Observer Research Foundation told the AFP news agency that Putin’s visit was “highly symbolic.”

“There has been a lot of speculation about the nature of the India-Russia relationship, and whether Russia is close to China and whether India is close to the US, but this visit stops all that,” Unnikrishnan said.

But Tatiana Belousova of OP Jindal Global University in Haryana said Russia’s influence in the region is “very limited”.

“Mostly because of its close ties to China and its unwillingness to act in dissonance with the interests of the Chinese region.”

Russia, meanwhile, has expressed reservations about completing the Quad, a group led by the US, India, Japan and Australia, in response to the growing strength of China in the Indo-Pacific region.

India’s foreign minister has said that concerns have been raised with Russia over the Indo-Pacific strategy.

Putin and Modik also discussed the situation in Afghanistan, pledging that the country will not be a safe haven for international “terrorism.”